"YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS." Kennedy pleaded weakly, removing her golden glitter lined mask to show sincerity.

    Gola looked troubled but didn't hesitate to answer, "I do. I have to do this—And you know it." What other way was there?

    She would offer the shadow prince her beating  heart. His heart. In return for the promised protection of her town and all of it's citizens for another hundred years.

    Afraid to be reasoned with and unable to bare the depth sadness in Kennedy's eyes a second later Gola began to make her way outside. However someone had taken her hand and spun her into a waltz before she could make it to the door. "Hey!" She protested, attempting to pull her hands free.

   The tall strawberry blonde stranger only chuckles and holds her tighter. Closer. "I loved him."

   And in an instant Gola recognizes the hidden face behind the mask. She'd known him in darkness, in death. "And I didn't?!" She fiercely demanded, once again fighting to pull away.

    Levi however would have none of it. As he yanked her with such a force her chest collided against his with a thud and soft whimper. "No, you will hear me! I loved him damnit!" He his foot came down against the ground like thunder before he twirled and dipped her. And in a hoarse almost painful voice he whispers, "I loved him", Again.

   Of course it was love. Love will make monsters of us all. But none of the monstrous things he did in the name of love will make those things alright.

   "Despite the fact that he was a lowly bastard, despite our family's, despite the fact that he was a man—"He pauses, sighs and closes his eyes. "Despite my head. I loved him with all of my heart."

   "Tragic." Gola manages to scoff. She's listening, because after two lifetimes of betrayal this is the absolute least he could offer her. But she isn't over the moon about it. And forgiveness couldn't possibly grace her thoughts. Not even if she loved Gabriel too.

   Richards ignored her. "I was to be wed to his sister at the age of sixteen. And as lovely as sarah was...I felt nothing. I couldn't bring myself to feel anything. I was broken in that way. Gabriel was broken in many ways. He was always there in the shadows. Watching out for his sibling, though she'd never claim him as such. He was always alone. Though occasionally you'd see him—"

   "With the head of manor staff, Harriet." Gola finished before him, recalling a memory she wasn't aware was hers. "She was the closest thing he had to a mother."

   "Flashes of an plump elderly brown skinned woman muttering to herself while she combed through Gabriel's matted black hair and dirt covered clothes unfold in Gola's mind. 'Don't know know how ya managed to get so dirty, boy.' Bounced around in her head, like a fading song stuck on repeat.It brought a small sad smile to her face. That boy had died two times over so long ago.

   And what was left now? A blue eyed blood soaked monster.

   The dark phantoms nails bit into her skin, as he sneered at her. "Me and him. We were something. Until you. An insolent child with no one, nothing. Nothing. You were nothing compared to me. Even now in this state."

  The dancing had become too much. The music was too loud. They were twirling too fast, fast enough for the room to unhinge from reality and spin too.   

     "But he loved me." Gola laughed bitterly, tears threatened to sting her eyes. She wanted him to hurt just as much as he'd hurt her. "He loves me, And not you. Never you."

   Richards eyes burned red. His fangs elongated and he hissed as if physically hurt. Then...he cried. "I love him." He repeated. "I love him. Let him go. Let us be happy. And I'll allow you to see your mother."

"My mother?"

"He's lying. Your mother is dead. Gone, Gola. Don't give into grief." Synthia's voice projected into her head. That's right we were all here.

Despite Sylvia's protest projecting into her head and her own better judgement he'd caught my attention. "And just how would you allow me to see my mother?"

"Shadow Demons reside over all the souls of the sunless world."

A different voice whispered in Gola's Head now. "Child, do not be so quick to take the bait. Your mother does not dwell in the sunless world. Which is a combination of a place like earth and what humans call hell. Instead her soul floats in the skylands. Which is a combination of earth and what the humans call heaven."

Despite her mother's relentless tyranny over the household, she was a good woman. A great woman in fact. And there stood no chance in hell that her soul would be anywhere near hell.

"Never."

   "What did you just say?" Richards demanded, shocked to hear what he didn't want.

   Did I stutter little ghost boy? "You will never separate me and Gabriel again. You will never take advantage of me again."

   "Fine."He all but growled. The room stopped spinning and the stage had come into focus. Time had passed. The dancing had ended. "I will take away all that you know and love just as you've done to me."

Then he vanished in a flurry of dead leaves.

"And two time winner of autumn festival and prom queen is...."

The crown placed upon Yona's plush bed of hair made no audible sound but Gola swore she could hear glass smashing and her sisters despairing screams. Two images would appear every time she blinked. One of her elder sister ecstatic in this moment. Beaming from ear to ear. Then she'd blink again. And there would be blood. Oozing from the crown of thorns meld to Yona's head. Her sister shrieking for her, though unable to reach her.

It was impossible to tell which of the versions was reality.

And that we're not already maddening, the voices in her head multiplied. No longer just the girls of the sleep over. The voices no longer quiet or...kind.

"Ring around the Rosie's—,"

A vision of Elenora's lifeless body resting on a bed of crimson roses arises.

"Pockets full of posies."

Another suppressed memory resurfaces. One that couldn't be hers. Hundreds of carcasses litter the ballroom floor. Men, women and children. Their bodies still warm, blood trailing from their glazed over eyes, feet bruised and bloodied, their pockets stuffed with the petals of white roses. "The white roses had been gifts for the girl. The dead girl. I'd been informed they were her favorite when she was alive." The detective noted with a sigh, his face hardened with grief of the tragedy.

"Ashes, Ashes we all fall down!" The many voices chorused unstably.

Gola felt her stomach lurch. Not even the mere babies had been spared. "Enough." she squeaked, holding her stomachache.

"Your fault!" The voices hissed. "Your the plague that killed them. That killed him!"

"Stop." Gola weakly pleaded. "Please stop." She was shaking her head violently, squeezing her eyes shut as though she could will the nightmarish images away.

"Your fault! Your fault! Your fault."

And now Yona was running. Gola would blink and she was joyfully running with her friends outside. Laughing and singing. She'd blink again and her friends were replaced by dark silhouettes with glowing red eyes, with their claws sunk into her skin.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up." She was pulling frantically at her hair now.

"This isn't a dream, You can't wake up!"